Book column: NEPA native pens 'Ben Franklin for Beginners'

Northeastern Pennsylvania native Tim Ogline takes a look at one of the state's most notable figures in "Ben Franklin For Beginners." The book introduces the founding father and his work with creative illustrations and storytelling. Ogline talked with JumpStart! about his passion for illustrating and writing.

JS: How did you get into writing and illustrating?

TO: I've always thought of myself as a storyteller ever since I made my own homemade comics as a kid. I loved drawing as a young boy, and found a great deal of encouragement from my folks and the teachers that I was lucky enough to have as I was growing up. This led to my decision to pursue my university studies and career.

Over the years, I've worked hard to hone skillsets that contribute to telling a story: illustration, writing, and design. These competencies have been very important in my graphic design business. I'm building a narrative and telling my client's story whether I'm working on an editorial illustration or creating a logo, building a website or packaging a magazine.

JS: Why did you choose Ben Franklin as a subject?

TO: I've always been passionate about American history - at least since Miss Judy featured a drawing of mine on (local television show) "Hatchy Milatchy" and my family was awarded tickets to visit the American Freedom Train when it came through the area for the '76 Bicentennial.

And being in Philadelphia, for the most part, since 1986 when I came here to go to the Temple University's Tyler School of Art, you can't help but have a deep-seated attachment to Benjamin Franklin - as well as cheese steaks and the Phillies.

Franklin is for the ages - an inspiration to generations of Americans. Benjamin Franklin's story shows us how a young runaway could make his way from Boston to Philadelphia, and arrive on the world stage.

JS: What do you hope readers will gain from this book?

TO: I've structured this book as a nonlinear biography that discusses the life of Ben Franklin in topic-oriented, richly illustrated chapters that detail Franklin's exploits and achievements in numerous areas. I've also broken down each of these chapters into bite-size pieces that will hopefully allow the reader to digest these recountings of the life and times of Benjamin Franklin in a way that will satisfy their appetites, but not fill them up with dry facts and figures.

I hope that readers will come away knowing more. I hope that they will experience an engaging read, and have something that they can hold onto - that the material will be presented in a way that makes them hungry for more.

JS: What was the research process like?

TO: The research process was like an adventure. It was a journey that brought me to places that I never knew existed, like the proposed State of Franklin (eight counties that had seceded from North Carolina) or the Franklin Crater on the moon. I also came to a place where I thought I could just make out the hazy shapes of the inner territories of Franklin's mind in the distance.

I read many books - in-print and out-of-print books, physical and virtual - and explored the places that Franklin lived and walked here in Philadelphia. Franklin is very much alive here in Philadelphia and continues to be an inspiration 224 years after his death.

JS: What would you say is one of the most important things to keep in mind when writing something educational and suitable for all ages?

TO: It's important to present material in a manner that makes it connect, and makes it accessible to readers of any age. It's a challenge to dust off a subject so embedded in our shared history, a subject that older readers think they already know. It's important to present it in a way that engages and entertains, but also brings something new to the table and makes it fresh. It's also critical to present it in a way that doesn't talk down to younger readers.

The sweet spot is being at the intersection of informative and inviting and at the crossroads of entertaining and educating. Facts and figures can resonate as long as they're served up with respect for your audience.

JS: Are you working on any other projects?

TO: We're reviewing a contract with a publisher for a graphic novel that I've been working on: "The Way To Wealth." I've adapted Franklin's famous tract on virtue and vice from 1758 into a sequential narrative that stages the speech of Father Abraham as recounted by Poor Richard - of course the nom de plume of Benjamin Franklin - in a present day context while touching on financial challenges and pitfalls that we are all aware of in these difficult times.

I also have a proposal for a historical fiction graphic novel - Benjamin Franklin and the Liberty League - that an agent in L.A. is shopping around.

I also have a Benjamin Franklin alphabet book that I'll get back to at some point as well.

In 100 words or less: Benjamin Franklin narrated and lived the great American success story. As America's prototypical polymath, he excelled at - and even defined - a number of professions including printer, writer, postmaster, scientist, inventor, public citizen, politician and diplomat. He was a cornerstone in the foundation of the United States. He discovered practicable uses for electricity. He was America's first great satirist. He founded the University of Pennsylvania. He invented bifocals. He was a legendary ladies' man. He was all of these things, and he was so much more.

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